Post Office Blues
by valentine999
Summary: Pure humor/romance. The gang get together in the holidays and some secrets are uncovered, new friendships form and everyone learns a bit more about each other.
1. Post Office Girl

**Ok, so this is a nice little (few chapters) romance/friendshipiness which I just wanted to write because I feel that AF doesn't have enough of these. It's a whole different kind of adventure! ;)**

**I'm not expecting everyone to be like, OMG, I love it. So it's purely for my own enjoyment i.e. you're stuck with it. **

**

* * *

**

One of the best places in every town in England, undoubtedly, is the post office. It's one of the only places where you can see all sorts of people, from all walks of life, from different countries, from different ages, gathered in one room. And it was strangely comforting to see everyone talking with one another with no animosity between people and Hex watched with a small smirk as Anita, the woman at the booth next to him, cursed for the hundredth time that hour. He looked over too her and she roughly pushed aside her dark hair from her face and stared at her computer screen as though her will-power was enough to fix the problem.

"Relax," Hex said quietly to her as his eyes skimmed the screen in front of him, "I'm moving to your desk next." He assured her and typed something in before looking up from the computer and through the plastic screen in front he caught the eye of a girl. She must've been his age and as soon as she had seen him she looked away with a small smile. There was a quiet shyness about her that aroused his curiosity.

"I can't relax- look at the queue!" She sighed and saw that he wasn't paying attention to her anymore. She noticed the lopsided smile as he looked down and Anita laughed. "Where is she?" Anita muttered and looked out into the queue.

"I've got to go." Hex said suddenly and stood up; Anita smirked as she saw the reddening of his cheeks. Hex made his way past the other postal workers sat at their desks and didn't mean to ignore them as they gave him greetings but found that he couldn't quite think straight. He opened the door at the end of the corridor and walked into the staffroom. He was glad no one was there and as he walked past the coffee machine he tapped a button and walked to the sofa. As Hex sat down he retrieved his palmtop from his pocket and turned it back on.

Hex's mother, in one of those meetings between friends that only mothers have, had managed to find Hex a small job at the post office. They were having "technical difficulties" and Mrs Brown had persuaded her friend to let Hex fix the problem, after thoroughly embarrassing him through sentences such as "oh yes, he never leaves his computer for a second, I guess that's why he doesn't have a girlfriend." Hex actually cringed as he remembered hearing her say it. That wasn't the reason he didn't have a girlfriend, there were other, more complex reas- hey, an e-mail from Amber! He hurriedly opened the e-mail and read quickly:

_Code-boy,_

_I'll be flying in at six tomorrow so be at Heathrow to pick me up. Or fear what I'll do to you if you're not there. Sorry for the quick message, I have to get out of the house in three minutes or else my uncle is denying me access to England. Now get off your palmtop and get a life. _

_Amber_

Something Hex didn't know, something that most boys don't know about girls who like them, is the debate that goes on for a good few minutes before they send a message. In this case, Amber took those last three minutes she had, deciding whether or not to put a "x" on the end of the message. It's slightly trivial and generally stupid but it's a very important detail in any message. With Alex and Paulo it was more of a friendly, kind of meaningless showpiece on the end of the text but with Hex she was too concerned about him reading into it. And she didn't even want to consider the question of "how many do I put at the end?" It annoyed her that she thought so much about it but when it came to Hex, nothing was simple.

Alpha Force was gathering again. This time it was in London, to stay at Hex's house while his parents and younger brother, were away visiting family. At first they had encouraged him to go but Alex, who would be here in an hour, had called saying he had free time. And any time spent with Alpha was not worth missing, as far as Hex was concerned. They were all his closest friends and he was more than happy to invite the rest of them over for two weeks. It would be entirely uneventful. For once they didn't have to talk over a log fire, or sleep under the stars, or listen to Alex reminding them of how wonderful the outdoors were. The outdoors were not so wonderful, in Hex's opinion.

Hex lifted his head from the palmtop as the coffee machine beeped to indicate his coffee was ready. As Hex walked to the machine he realised that he didn't really like coffee, but it was the only warm drink they had and the weather was getting colder so it kept him warm. He placed his palmtop in his pocket again and opened the door. He was so surprised to see that the girl he had spied in the queue, was already in front of his desk, waiting to be served by Anita. After an awkward moment of deliberation he walked back to his desk and sat down. The girl looked to him for a moment and they shared a polite exchange of smiles before she looked away. Hex pretended to keep working but out of the corner of his eye he looked her up and down. She had shoulder length blonde hair that was tied up at her neck in a simple ponytail and Hex, who never really paid attention to make-up, realised that she wasn't wearing any. Her warm, hazel eyes caught him looking again and he blushed before ducking behind his screen. She was very pretty but not in an obvious way, in that plain, simple way that made her seem delicate and stunning. Like a snowflake....as he thought about it he cringed- who the heck likens girls to forms of precipitation?!

Anita saw him hiding and excused herself from her desk before pretending to be searching through the files in the drawers next to him. As she knelt down to search, she looked up to him and beckoned Hex with a finger. He leant towards her.

"Who're you hiding from?" She asked with a small smile and Hex sighed; the game was up. In fact, he'd been so obvious he doubted he'd even started playing. Anita was the most welcoming of the postal workers; she was only a few years older than him and had taken a liking to him. She introduced him to her family as they entered the post office each day and it seemed she had tons of uncles and aunties and cousins. When he pointed this out, she dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand and said something about it being "an Asian thing." Hex pointed through the plastic screen in front of him. Anita popped her head up to look, caught the girl's eye and smiled before kneeling down again. "I like her." Anita said enthusiastically and patted Hex's shoulder. "Well now that you have my approval, you can ask her out-"

"I don't want to-"

"Next!" Anita shouted and stood up. Hex dragged her back down; Anita really was lovely but she seemed to be on a mission when it came to finding Hex a girl.

"Look, I don't want-"

"Why not?" Anita pressed him, "she's fit." Hex shuddered as she winked at him.

"Never use that word again." He urged and Anita's face fell. "My life is very complicated-"

"Excuse me?" They heard a soft voice ask from above and both looked up to see the girl looking through the plastic sheet, down to them. Hex, who had grabbed Anita's arm, let the woman go and she stood to her full height before shooting him an evil look. Anita straightened her jacket and sat back in her chair.

"How can I help?" Anita asked sweetly and out of the corner of her eyes she spied Hex trying desperately to get her attention. The blonde haired girl took from her bag a letter and slid it to Anita, under the plastic screen.

"I need this delivered by hand." She had a nice voice; not childish and high pitched but soothing and sweet. Hex closed his eyes as though waiting for the explosion; waiting for Anita to say something potentially catastrophic. But nothing happened. Anita said nothing, they simply went through the usual routine with any customer and the girl just walked away. Anita looked over to Hex and rolled her eyes, "there's no need to look so disappointed," she commented on the look on Hex's face.

"I'm not-"

"Because you're going to see her again." Anita said profoundly and Hex had to double take when he realized what she had said. The woman picked up a ring from the desk in front of her; it was a plain silver band and, for some reason, Hex figured this simplicity simply whispered sentimentality. "She fiddled with it and took it off before handing me the letter." She held out the ring to Hex, "go for it, kid." Hex took the ring with a rising sense of self-doubt but stood nonetheless and walked after the girl.

She had not wandered far from the post office and Hex caught sight of her as she walked out of the shopping center and into the oncoming November rain. From her bag she retrieved an umbrella and took a moment to look around herself. Hex ran up to the automatic doors and then felt slightly stupid; as he ran, she had turned to him and the doors had shut, he had to stand for a while for them to open again and she peered at him through the raindrops.

"Hi," Hex said, taking a step forwards before realizing it was raining.

"Oh," she gasped and took a step forwards, holding her umbrella above him. Hex could not feel the coldness of the rain anymore because he found that she was quite close to him. Well, of course she was, seeing as they were under the same umbrella. "Hello," she said to break the awkward silence. "I'm Emma," she smiled at him and Hex blushed under her stare.

"Hex," he said softly and even though it was raining heavily, she could hear him clearly. "You, er," he retrieved the ring from his pocket, "left this in the post office," he said sheepishly and held out the ring.

"Oh no!" She exclaimed and took the ring from his hands, "thank you, so much." Emma said breathlessly and she put the ring on her finger. She looked up to Hex with glittering eyes due to the rain and rosy cheeks because of the harsh, bitter-cold winds. "You work in the post office?" She asked and Hex stole a glance at his watch when she looked away; Alex said he'd meet him at the post office around now.

"I'm just helping them out for a while." He explained and a flutter of butterflies made him aware of one thing; it was now or never. "Hey," he said in a totally cool, breezy, nonchalant kind of way, "I was wondering, if you're around the post office in the next week," as he said it he saw her blush and look down, "we should," _think of something adult-ish, sophisticated- _"get coffee?" He hated coffee! What was he doing? Too late now. Run with it.

"Hey, Hex!" His heart sank; that was Alex's voice. Emma hadn't heard and so Hex cast a glance past the automatic doors and saw his friend running towards him. In a not so clever action, Hex skillfully, without Emma knowing, hit the emergency close button of the automatic doors. As Alex approached the doors closed suddenly. Emma still had not answered. "Hey, Hex!?" Alex said through the glass doors, "what's going on-"

"I would like that." Emma answered and as she looked at him she looked past him to see a tall blonde boy talking at them through the glass doors. "Erm, is that your friend-"

"Yes, yes I am." Alex said sternly and watched them both eagerly through the glass. Hex, stuck in between the two, walked to the door and stood there to block Alex from Emma's view. "Hey!" Alex protested but Hex ignored him.

"Cool, so I'll see you around." Hex said and Emma nodded and turned to walk away. Leaving Hex standing in the rain, before she vanished from view she turned and waved, Hex held up a hand to her and she turned back and kept walking. Hex leant against the door and sighed. Alex knocked sharply on the glass in front of him and Hex jumped before remembering his friend was there. He turned and pushed the button to open the doors. Alex was not impressed.

* * *

**Yeah, that's enough for now, just to set the scene, even though it didn't really do that.**

**This was again inspired by real life events, don't ask which part…**

**Reviews appreciated. **


	2. Coffee Shop Girl

**As I was writing this, I found it very difficult not to be like- and then what if they found something suspicious? No, Valentine- it's simply a cute fic, alright? But what if one of them goes missin- No! It's a cute fic!…Fine, damn I'm bossy.**

**

* * *

**

Hex turned guiltily to his friend and slowly the automatic doors opened again. Alex simply stood, looking at his friend being soaked in the miserable, bitter-cold November rain, wondering what could have possessed Hex to shut himself outside. Hex walked in to stand beside Alex and smoothed back his hair, which stuck in place due to the rain. He knew his friend well enough to know Alex wouldn't be angry or upset, probably just confused.

"You don't ask girls out very often do you?" Was all Alex asked and Hex glanced to him quickly.

"Not really," he admitted, knowing Alex would be the last person to tease him in any way, "why?" Alex put a hand on his shoulder in a consoling way before realizing Hex was wet and withdrawing his hand quickly.

"Because that was _terrible_," Alex stressed the last word and Hex's shoulders slumped.

"I'd like to see you do any better." Hex snapped and began to walk away. Alex thought for a moment before running up to his friend.

"I'm not saying _I could, _I'm saying _you should_." Alex said and Hex smirked before shaking his head.

"I'm seeing you after three months and the first thing you do is criticize me." Hex muttered and Alex looked offended.

"I'm seeing you after three months and the first thing you do is close an automatic door in my face." He retorted and Hex sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said feebly. Alex hitched his rucksack further up his shoulder while checking the time on his watch.

"That's alright. When's everyone else coming?" He asked.

"We have to pick up Paulo from the airport now," Hex answered, "Li is coming tomorrow afternoon and we'll all go to get Amber from the airport." Alex nodded and they entered the post office. He noticed an Asian lady behind a desk, greet him with a smile and he smiled politely back but then he realized it wasn't him she was looking at; she stood up from her desk and walked over to Hex.

"How did it go?" She asked, trying and failing to hide her excitement.

"I'll have to tell you later," Hex said and picked up his bag from nearby before swinging it onto his shoulder. "I have to go to the airport and pick up a friend." The woman's face fell in disappointment but she put on a smile anyway.

"Alright, you better tell me later, kid." She said as she walked away, Hex smiled at her and waved goodbye as she went back to her desk. The two friends walked back out of the post office and headed for the train station.

* * *

A few hours later, the two friends were joined by a third boy; the lazy, handsome Argentinian had flown throughout the night to arrive that afternoon. He'd only been to Hex's part of London once and never to his house, so was pretty excited to see the city. That and he knew Li was coming. The three friends walked down a not-so-busy side street in East London, after deciding walking back to Hex's house would be better than taking a bus.

"Hey, have you guys met my friend Zara?" Hex said suddenly and the boys shook their heads.

"You have friends outside of us?" Paulo asked and Alex laughed. Hex chose to ignore the comment.

"I must've talked about her, you'll like her, she's awesome." He said quickly and began to pick up the pace. "Her family owns a coffee shop nearby, I think she's working today." They turned right onto a busier road and saw a small, cosy looking coffee house opposite. "Even though she's a bit of a klutz," Hex admitted, "and kind of loud at the wrong times-"

"You're just going to get free coffee, right?" Alex asked and Hex cleared his throat as they crossed the road.

"Well, there's that too." He said under his breath and the boys followed him across the busy road and they approached the door of the coffee shop. It was difficult not to "awww" at the cakes and flowers displayed in the window and as Hex pushed open the door, the boys were engulfed by the smell of coffee and pastries. The shop was surprisingly busy, seeing as it was the only one on that street, and it was just as cordial as it looked on the outside; with sofas and chairs that looked like they had come from different places and times, mismatching tea cups and saucers and bookshelves filled with editions Alex recognised as the ones he'd been forced to read in English at school. There was a girl, looking bored at the counter, with fair skin, dark hair and dark, hooded eyes, as soon as she saw Hex she smiled and beckoned him with a hand.

"Hello, Hex!" She called out and hugged him with the one arm that could reach around the till.

"Hey, Ali. Is Zara around?" Hex asked brightly and the girl, now called Ali, nodded.

"I think she's around back," Ali turned her back to them and shouted for Zara. She turned back and saw Alex and Paulo, leaning around Hex to see if Zara actually existed.

"This is Alex," Hex said with a nod of his head to the tallest boy of the trio and Alex smiled at her.

"Hey," he said but realised she'd already looked to Paulo who stood with a slightly arrogant smile.

"And this is Paulo," Hex murmured for he knew she wasn't listening anymore because her attention was concentrated on the good-looking Hispanic boy. Paulo simply smiled at her and she dissolved into giggles.

"Sit wherever you like," she said sweetly to him and Paulo nodded. She walked away from them, still casting a glance backwards and smiling again. Three boys stood at the counter for a moment longer.

"How the heck do you do that?" Hex questioned him and Paulo shrugged.

"Even I do not know." He said and lead them to a table. Alex and Hex, although not satisfied with that answer, accepted it nevertheless and sat down with him.

"You ought to give Hex some tips," Alex commented and Hex shot him a cold look.

"Why...?" And then Paulo read the look on Alex face, and the awkwardness in the twiddling of Hex's fingers, "what's happened?" And so Hex explained the happenings of the post office that morning.

"You shut the door in Alex's face?" Paulo asked seriously and when Hex nodded he laughed. "Real smooth, Romeo." He snorted and Alex shook his head. Their conversation was interrupted as someone ruffled Hex's hair when they approached the table.

"Alright, enough." Hex said and pushed her hand away. Alex and Paulo looked up to see a girl that looked like Ali from five minutes ago but younger, slimmer and fairer. Zara smiled at them with perfect teeth and very light brown eyes. Their chocolate colour stood out against her fair skin and jet black hair that was roughly tied up in a pony tail. She looked at the two boys as though studying them.

"Paulo," she said and pointed at him, when he nodded she smiled triumphantly, "and Alex." She concluded and he nodded too. "I'm Zara, it's nice to finally meet you." She sat down on the edge of Hex's chair and pushed him along the bench, he simply gave her a look of annoyance before sitting up straight again.

"Hex has told you about us?" Paulo asked and she nodded before grabbing the hand of a girl walking by.

"Can we have some hot chocolate, Mel?" The waitress nodded at Zara and walked away.

"Why don't you make some coffee?" Hex asked Zara and she shook her head.

"I don't make coffee-"

"You work at a coffee shop, of course you do!" He reminded her and she pouted at him. Hex clearly gave up when Zara turned back to his friends and leant in to talk again.

"Hex has told me about you, albeit it being a rough sketch of the group." And before they knew it Zara was talking at an incredibly fast rate and almost as quiet as a whisper. "One day Hex is coming with me and Ben on whatever adventures we have lined up, and God knows how many adventures Ben and I have lined up," she paused for breath. "Then again they're not really lined up, more shoved into a box in an unholy mess. That's the second time I've used a religious connotation," she said to herself and took a box from the middle of the table that contained different types of sweetner. "Anyway, the next day he's jetting off to somewhere near Indonesia on a boat or something and meets four friends who I _never_ hear enough of." She paused again and Alex and Paulo were finding it difficult to keep up for they were amazed she could talk so rapidly and sort out the sugar in the box just as fast. "Here's me in little old England thinking the socially-inept hacker from East London that has left us for South America and then, with hardly any time in between, gone off to the Sahara, has somehow transformed into a secret agent." The two boys who were not used to her, had to take a moment to realise what she was talking about. She had noted the places where Alpha Force had had their first two missions and when she smiled innocently at them they looked to Hex who shook his head; she knew nothing. The two of them relaxed. "Relax," Zara said as she noticed how tense they had become, "I'm just really good at remembering useless bits of information about people; you can tell me all the gory details about these trips, later." She stacked up the last pink sachets of sugar and put them neatly in the box.

"You talk _really _fast." Paulo said slowly and she grinned before leaning in closer.

"And you have reduced half of my cousins to a group of giggling banshees." She replied just as slowly and pointed to the pastry counter to which all the boys looked; indeed as Paulo glanced over the girls hid away with giggles that made Zara shiver. "Thanks Mel," Zara looked up over her shoulder and smiled at the waitress who had a tray of four hot chocolates. Alex and Paulo glanced at each other; how did Zara know the girl was there? As Melanie began to hand out the hot chocolates, Zara's phone rang. "Who might this be?" She muttered and took out the phone from her jeans pocket. She answered the call and smiled as soon as she heard the other person say hello. "Hey, how are you guys?" Pause. "Of course I am." A smile at Hex. "I think I will…" As Zara laughed and talked on the phone, Hex leant over to his friends.

"She's a bit of an acquired taste." Hex whispered and Paulo shrugged.

"I like her." He confirmed and Alex nodded.

"She looks like Snow White." Alex added and the other two looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"I don't know whether to say _awww_," Paulo replied, "or to throw up."

"Well I think it was an adorable thing to say." Zara added and they turned to her before smiling guiltily. Alex blushed furiously and wished the sofa would swallow him so he didn't have to look at her.

"Who was that on the phone?" Hex asked, trying to save Alex and Zara, who had kept her light eyes on him, looked to Hex.

"Your mum." She replied and the boys laughed. "No really, it was." She protested, "she was making sure I was keeping an eye on you."

"Where are your parents?" Hex asked her and her smile faded.

"Washington, visiting the brother." She grumbled, "But Zara can't go because she has to stay here and work and do homework and study and clean up and study." She paused, "and study." Hex patted her shoulder and put on a look of mock-concern before his expression faded to one of sincerity.

"Come and stay with me for a while!" He said and she brightened up immediately.

"Really?" She asked and looked to the other two boys who nodded immediately. They weren't entirely sure why they were agreeing but there was something delightfully infectious about her humor and kindness and the strange relationship she had with Hex, that made it difficult not to like Zara. Slowly, her smile faded, "you just want me there because you can't cook." She said and Hex shook his head.

"Of course not." Hex said and when Zara looked away and her eyes danced as she deliberated, he turned to the boys and nodded vigorously.

"OK," Zara replied, "I'll come over later." She stood up from the table and reached down for Hex's mug. She took a sip and handed him the mug, the other two found it strange that Hex didn't mind. "Paulo," she nodded a goodbye to him, "Prince Charming," she winked at Alex who forced a smile in goodbye. Before she walked away she ruffled Hex's hair once more and went back to "the back." Hex looked back to his friends as though awaiting their comments.

"I prefer her to Emma," Alex said quickly, "Emma made you shut a door in my face while Zara undermined you at least three times in three minutes." Paulo nodded.

"I think she's attractive," he added, "in a cute, clever sort of way-"

"That's disgusting." Hex said suddenly and pointed to himself, "me and Zara?" He asked and the others nodded. "She's like my kid sister man!" He cried as though the mere thought of it was an abomination.

"Oh," Paulo said as though it was all making sense, "well, Alex, it's a shame you're so tall." He said and Hex and Alex looked around to him and even though Alex had a premonition of what Paulo was going to say, he still asked:

"Why?"

"Because you could never be one of her dwarfs."

* * *

**This is moving so slowly, I was like- it'll be over in three chapters, don't worry. But then I just got really into the…mundaneness of it all. The cuteness-ish. Whatever. How're we liking Zara? **

**Reviews appreciated!**


	3. Box of Wonders

**So I've had this chapter on my old laptop since like…early October. But this whole university thing put ff on hold. I'll try and update more often and I miss the AF section- it is the best of all the ones I have written for! But yeah, medicine ain't no walk in the park.

* * *

**

Alex, Paulo and Hex were sat in complete silence in the Brown's living room. Hex was cross-legged on the armchair, frowning at his palmtop and biting his lip in a manner that Paulo and Alex had become accustomed to. Paulo was flicking through a magazine, not really taking in anything he was reading; he was still tired from his plane journey. And Alex sat on the floor, checking the contents of his pack as though it were a daily ritual.

"You don't need that thing on this holiday," Hex muttered as he flicked his eyes up to Alex and then to his screen again.

"You must always be prepared." Alex said under his breath in a slightly evil, pathological voice. Paulo, who was lying on the sofa, looked up from his magazine.

"Well, if Zara comes that condom might come in handy-"

"I'm never going to hear the last of this, am I?" Alex asked no one in particular but both his friends looked up and shook their heads at him. "I don't get it," Alex said, putting down his pack, "everywhere we go Paulo flirts and chases skirt and no one says anything! I compare one girl to a fairy tale princess, and all of a sudden I want to sleep with her?" Paulo and Hex looked ashamed of themselves slightly for upsetting their friend before they grinned at him.

"Yes."

"Pretty much." They answered at the same time and Alex looked like he was going to shout before he took a deep breath and went back to attending to his pack.

"You're both nuts." He murmured.

"Come on, Alex," Paulo sighed at him, "we are only joking." As he finished his sentence they all looked around as they heard the doorbell ring.

"That's probably Zara," Hex said and stood up from the sofa. His hands moved with lightning speed as he bashed some keys on his palmtop and then turned the gadget off. Hex walked out of the room and Paulo and Alex followed him into the hallway. At the front door Hex turned to the other two. "Alex," he said seriously and the blonde boy gritted his teeth, preparing for another jibe, "I might like to make fun of you for it but try not to hit on her while she's here-"

"I don't want to-"

"And Paulo," Hex completely ignored Alex's protests, "just, don't hit on her OK?" Paulo thought about it for a moment before sighing in defeat and nodding too. "Good," Hex opened the door and the boys saw the small flecks of sleet shoot down from the night sky-

"About time," A figure pushed past Hex and walked into the hall, "it's freaking freezing out there!" Zara said and took off her hat, she looked around to the other two boys, "hello!" She said brightly, her fair cheeks bright red against the cold. She shook her hair to get some sleet from the parts that were not covered by her hat. In the coffee shop her hair had been tied back but now the boys were surprised at how long it was; jet black and waves that shimmered in the light of Hex's hallway. "I made banoffee pie." Zara said happily and handed it to Alex.

"Why did you bring pie?" He asked and she paused in taking off her coat.

"Well, if you don't want it," she went to take the box away from Alex's hands but he put it protectively up to his chest.

"No, we want the pie." He nodded quickly and she smiled at him.

"I am chilled to the bone," Zara whispered and threw Hex her coat to reveal a short white dress with grey flowers and thick, grey, woolen tights that reminded Hex of the ones girls used to wear at his primary school. "I want some tea," she said and walked through to the kitchen. "Does anyone want some?" The boys all shouted their thanks and Paulo turned to Hex.

"I thought you said she's a klutz?" He asked, "she seems pretty-" but Paulo was cut off as they heard a crash come from the kitchen.

"Yeah, that's Zara for you." Hex said and they all walked to the kitchen door and opened it. Zara was sat on the floor, looking at them all; she'd clearly fallen, they could see blood ooze through the tights on her left knee. Her shoulders shook and her bottom lip quivered as her big brown eyes glazed over with tears.

"Woah," Paulo said and went down to her, "don't cry."

"It really hurts," she said in a high pitched voice and Paulo knelt beside her, put an arm underneath hers and helped her up.

"What did you do?" Hex asked in a bored voice.

"Hex, don't be mean," Alex said as he walked past him, put the pie on the kitchen table and walked to the kettle. "Would you still like that tea?" He asked her sweetly and Zara smiled despite her pain and nodded.

"Hex is always mean to me when I fall over." She told Paulo as he helped her onto the kitchen counter where she sat and looked down at her knee.

"That's because you _always _fall over." He explained and she stuck her tongue out at him. "It's like dealing with a little kid!" He rolled his eyes at her and she simply smiled at him.

"We should clean it," Paulo said to himself and began to look for a first aid kit.

"Over there," Zara said and pointed to a kitchen cupboard next to Hex. Paulo went over to it, opened the cupboard door and began to rummage through it. "What have you guys been up to?" She asked and looked around at them; they shot her the same, bored, lazy look that she was used to receiving from boys when she asked this question. "So that's the standard _don't-ask-questions-when-you-know-you-won't-like-the-answer _look?" Alex shook his head.

"It means: not much." He explained and she nodded.

"Did you come straight from work?" Hex asked and went to help Alex find the way around his kitchen.

"Do I look like I'm dressed for work?" Zara asked in a dull, monotone voice. They all looked to her as she indicated her dress; usually at the coffee shop she wore all black. Hex shook his head. "I was in town, needed some bananas for my pie," she muttered and grabbed the bottle of TCP that Paulo was struggling to open, "I buy them, completely forgetting that I should also have bought cream," she handed him the open bottle and he smiled his thanks, "so I go back in to Sainsbury's, looking like a total prat, and buy the cream." She then opened the packet of cotton wool that Paulo was trying to master. "I make the banoffe, I leave the house, I arrive here, you three take my pie, I fall over and here we are." She finished and as she looked to Hex and Alex who were stood by the kettle, she yelped and grabbed her knee. "What is wrong with you?!" She shouted at Paulo who looked just as alarmed as she did and hit his arm before grabbing her knee.

"What did I do?" He looked to Hex for some kind of explanation.

"TCP?" Hex asked and Paulo nodded. "Oh," he sighed as he understood, "Zara's a wimp-"

"Am not!" She snapped at him, "it stings!" She complained to Paulo who nodded with a bemused look.

"It's TCP on an open wound. If it didn't sting, something would be seriously wrong." He said to her but found it was difficult not to laugh when Zara sniffed at him. "I had to cut through your tights by the way," he said and she looked down to her knee and nodded.

"Alright." She said with solemn determination, "I'm ready-"

"Would you like someone to hold your hand?" Paulo asked and she looked at him with a bored face. "No? Alright." He said and applied the damp cotton wool to her cut again. As she whimpered he found it difficult not to laugh. As she went through her torture the boys decided that ordering pizza was the best thing to do and she nodded her agreement. Paulo helped her down from the kitchen counter and they all went into the living room and dropped onto the sofas. It was strange, that Zara didn't seem to stand out in any way, she melted into the group of three boys as though she were another. Alex and Paulo guessed it was because she spent a lot of time with Hex and his younger brother. Soon, talks of dinner turned into suggestions of a good movie to watch and again the boys were surprised that Zara did not protest at their choices of films. And when Paulo asked her if she wanted to watch a more "girly" movie, she told him that he shouldn't use her as a means to get what he wants. She fit right in.

* * *

A few hours later, after a dinner of terrible junk food and a decent film, he boys stretched and figured they were ready for bed. Earlier they had agreed the sleeping arrangements but Zara had fallen asleep against Hex's shoulder and he didn't think it was wise to wake her. So he placed a pillow beneath her head and brought a blanket from another room to place on her. The three male members of Alpha Force gathered in the living room and looked over to her.

"She takes some getting used to." Hex whispered, "took me three years before I could have a conversation with her when _I _actually got to say something."

"She does know how to talk." Alex nodded.

"She's adorable." Paulo said quietly and Hex smiled.

"She's also awake." Zara said and sat up. "Can I just sleep here?" She asked Hex through a yawn, he nodded and she fell back onto her pillow.

"Alex is sleeping on the sofa next to you-"

"Brilliant." She said sleepily and waved a hand at Hex to be quiet. The boys left but Zara heard Alex fumble round the living room for a while as she drifted in and out of sleep. Eventually she opened her right eye a fraction and saw him sat on his sofa, a lamp on beside him as he rummaged through his rucksack. He looked over and saw she was awake.

"You don't mind the light, do you?" He asked and she shook her head. Alex was aware, as he kept looking through his bag that she was still looking at him. "Zara, how did you and Hex become friends?" He asked suddenly and she sat up slowly, "you're very different." She giggled and stretched.

"It was because of Ben." She said simply, "I was friends with Ben first and then," she paused, "he became very ill when we were only little." Zara smiled as she reminisced the beginnings of their friendship. "I was scared, Hex was scared but no way near as scared as Ben was." Alex knew that Ben was an asthmatic but never knew the full story; Hex didn't like to talk about it very much. "So while Ben was in and out of hospital, I ended up spending more time with Hex. I used to be dropped off here after school and Ben and I would play but when he wasn't around, Hex looked after me, I guess." It was the slowest Alex had ever heard her talk and slowly his arms moved to his side and he stopped searching. "Then, when Ben went in for his operation Hex and I came up with the most awesome plan I think has ever existed in the history of awesome plans." She said triumphantly and Alex smiled at her enthusiasm.

'What was the plan?" He asked and she laughed as she thought about it.

"You wanna see them?" She asked and Alex, who had no clue what she was talking about, nodded. Zara was suddenly tired to longer and threw her blanket away, she stood up, inspected her knee and held out her hand to him. Alex got up and took her hand. In an instant she fled the living room, dragging him with her. In the hallway she opened the cupboard under the stairs and went through the coats. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Are you taking me to Narnia?" He asked and she popped her head past Hex's coat.

"Something like that." She answered and disappeared again. Alex followed and as he parted the coats he saw stairs. "Just to the basement." She called from the bottom of the stairs and Alex followed her voice. As he emerged into a dimly lit basement he looked around and saw there were only cardboard boxes in a large space and he jumped as Zara pulled out an old fashioned cloak, it was red velvet and she held it up in front of her. "Can you see me?" She asked and Alex looked at the opaque material.

"No, of course not-"

"That's because it's an invisibility cloak." She said and peered around the red material. Alex, who was becoming concerned as to Zara's mental stability, simply looked confused. She put the coat down and her smile faded slightly. "Ben is the only person I know who reads as much as I do. It's why we became friends. When he went in for his operation, Hex and I wanted to do something special for when he came home. We were both ten, I think, he was eight." She put the cloak back in the box and pulled out a plastic sword. "He had read more books than most people read in their entire life and I was slowly catching up. So Hex and I searched our houses and antique stores to find objects from books he loved-"

"Like King Arthur's sword?" Alex asked and indicated the sword in her hands. Zara nodded.

"The one and only, Excalibur…that existed in Jake & Penny's costume store seven years ago." Alex stepped towards the box she was stood by and extracted a dusty bottle. It had the label "_drink me"_ attached.

"Alice in Wonderland." He muttered and she took the bottle from him.

"That was my favourite book." She exclaimed and blew dust off the bottle. "Don't open that!" She shouted and Alex jumped, nearly dropping the small gold pot he had picked up. He was about to remove the lid but stopped as she warned him.

"Why not?" He asked and held the pot at arms length to avoid any harm.

"It's Pandora's box." She gasped and laughed when Alex looked totally unfazed by this. "It'll release evil into the world-"

"But at the very bottom lies hope." Alex interrupted and she smiled. "Why is all this stuff here?" Alex asked but when he looked up to Zara he saw she was no longer paying attention to what he was saying but her eyes were chasing the light at his feet.

"Alex?" She muttered and looked up at him. "Who's Amber?"

* * *

**Reviews appreciated!**


End file.
